Kiwoom Securities has been facing customer backlash due to consecutive computer errors and tax omission incidents this year, and now it is struggling with the controversy surrounding the school violence of the advertising model it selected for the first time in five years to attract the younger generation. In a situation where the latecomer Toss Securities is aggressively pursuing, incidents that can damage the corporate image are continuously occurring.
On the 28th, a Kiwoom Securities official commented on the school violence controversy involving actress Go Minsi, saying, “There is nothing clearly revealed, so we are monitoring the situation for now,” and noted, “As of now, we are not considering (changing the advertising model).”
Earlier, on the 26th, a post was published in an online community claiming that Go Minsi was involved in school violence during her school days. Although the writer did not explicitly mention the actress's name, they specified the target by revealing Go Minsi's name before her name change and her age. Go Minsi's agency, Mystic Story, refuted the claim, stating, “This is a clear falsehood and baseless,” and added, “We have appointed a legal representative to review legal actions both civil and criminal.”
Kiwoom Securities adopted Go Minsi, who is popular among the younger generation, as its model this March. It has been five years since Kiwoom Securities resumed its brand advertising since 2020. As the latecomer Toss Securities swept away 2030 investors by emphasizing its intuitive and convenient user interface and experience in the mobile trading system (MTS), the ‘retail giant’ Kiwoom Securities felt compelled to respond.
In particular, Toss Securities' pursuit in the institutional sector associated with overseas investments has been intense. According to the Korea Financial Investment Association, Kiwoom Securities' revenue from foreign securities custody fees last year increased by 95.6% year-on-year to 208.9 billion won. Toss Securities' revenue reached 208 billion won, closing in on Kiwoom Securities. In terms of year-on-year growth rate, Toss Securities surpassed Kiwoom Securities by a large margin at 211.8%. In the first quarter of this year, Toss Securities (86.7 billion won) outperformed Kiwoom Securities (67.4 billion won) in foreign securities custody fees.
An official from the securities industry said, “It's a very sensitive time for Kiwoom Securities, and it is at such a timing that the school violence controversy of the promotional model hired to attract 2030 retail investors has erupted,” adding, “Regardless of whether the controversy is true or not, it will inevitably be a negative factor for companies that do brand advertising.”
The disturbances surrounding Kiwoom Securities this year are not limited to this. In April, order processing delays occurred for two consecutive days in Kiwoom Securities' trading system (MTS·HTS), leading to a flood of complaints from individual investors who missed trading opportunities. At that time, Kiwoom Securities, which could not properly identify the cause of the error, ultimately had to suspend services entirely over the weekend and conduct a comprehensive system review.
In May, during the comprehensive income tax reporting period, an incident of omitting the reporting of financial income tax arose, leading to a responsibility dispute with the National Tax Service. Some customer income was reported as lower than it actually was. Kiwoom Securities stated that it submitted the materials normally within the deadline for income tax reporting, but the National Tax Service countered that Kiwoom Securities omitted additional materials that it should have submitted.